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A wider Interstate 81 would take properties off the tax rolls (Your letters)

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ReThink 81 predicts the highlighted buildings on this Syracuse map will be demolished if New York rebuilds a straighter Interstate 81 viaduct along the edge of downtown. New York state transportation officials says decisions about razing specific properties have not been made as officials review options that range from a tunnel to a viaduct to a street-level boulevard. ReThink 81 is a civic group opposed to building a new elevated section of I-81.
(Peter Allen | The Post-Standard)

Here is our choice: Do we want a city that people want to go to, or one they just want to drive through?

To the Editor

Thank you for Teri Weaver's recent article cataloging the many downtown buildings at risk if we build a new, wider, I-81 viaduct that conforms to all current federal highway standards. It is sobering to see pictures of what our city could lose. However, there are other important findings from the Rethink81.org analysis that the public should be aware of.

For instance, burying these buildings and other properties beneath a larger viaduct would take them off the tax rolls. The result would be an annual loss of $1.6 million in city and county property tax revenues. Of course, widening the viaduct would also mean a new group of properties would now be next to the freeway, reducing their assessed value and leading to a total annual tax revenue loss of $3.3 million.

A street-level option, on the other hand, would actually release new land for development -- up to seven acres of property now controlled by DOT. If this property were developed similarly to other recent downtown development, the result would be an additional $139 million in assessed property value, bringing the city and county $5.3 million in additional annual tax revenue.

Our analysis makes it clear that the I-81 decision is not just about a freeway; it will impact growth and development in the Syracuse area for decades to come. Here is our choice: Do we want a city that people want to go to, or one they just want to drive through? Will we continue the remarkable progress we've made rebuilding the center of Central New York, or will we set those efforts back by enlarging the concrete and steel impediment that has stifled growth for decades? Whatever the choice, it will be one that Syracuse must live with for generations to come.